Nigeria plans petrol discount for public transport

Nigeria plans a petrol discount for public transport operators as part of measures to cushion households and businesses from energy price shocks, Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele said Thursday.

“We are offering a discount on petrol dispensed by NNPC Limited for the next 30 days, in the first instance, with priority for public transporters nationwide,” Oyedele told journalists in Abuja. NNPC is Nigeria's state oil company and operates petrol stations across the country.

Oyedele did not specify the discounted price. He said the plan was not a return to fuel subsidies, saying: “It's not a subsidy. The government is just saying we sell to you at cost.”

Petrol prices have risen to around 1,400 naira, or $1.00, per litre from 830 naira before the war in the Middle East. Oyedele said the government would also introduce “price modulation” to reduce pump price volatility and was “negotiating a ceiling of 1,350 naira a litre”.

President Bola Tinubu scrapped a major fuel subsidy and floated the naira after taking office in 2023. Economists have broadly backed the reforms, but they have increased living costs in Africa's most populous country.

Nigeria holds a general election on January 16. Tinubu is seeking re-election and is expected to face his main 2023 rivals, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi. Abubakar is campaigning on a promise to restore fuel subsidies.